Violation of the second law of thermodynamics in the quantum microworld

V. Čápek and J. Bok

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2001, vol. 290, issue 3, 379-401

Abstract: One of the previously reported linear models of open quantum systems (interacting with a single thermal bath but otherwise not aided from outside) endowed with the faculty of spontaneous self-organization challenging standard thermodynamics is reconstructed here. It is then able to produce, in a cyclic manner, a useful (this time mechanical) work at the cost of just thermal energy in the bath whose quanta get properly in-phased. This means perpetuum mobile of the second kind explicitly violating the second law in its Thomson formulation. No approximations can be made responsible for the effect as a special scaling procedure is used that makes the chosen kinetic theory exact. The effect is purely quantum and disappears in the classical limit.

Keywords: Isothermal Maxwell demon; Particle transfer; Energy conversion; Perpetuum mobile (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:290:y:2001:i:3:p:379-401

DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(00)00345-9

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